NAB gets 10 days remand of Shahbaz in Ashiana housing scheme case

LAHORE: The judge of an accountability court handed over Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who was arrested in Ashiana housing scheme case, to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 10 days physical remand. The accountability court Judge Najmul Hasan ordered that irrelevant people should leave the court as he could not hear the case. According to reports, the judge summoned the NAB prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua and Shahbaz’s counsels to his chamber and started the hearing. Azam Nazeer Tarar and Amjad Pervez represented Mian Shahbaz Sharif in the court. The counsels for Shahbaz Sharif objected to the hearing of the case at his chamber. The hearing was restarted at the court on the request of the Shahbaz Sharif’s lawyers. The NAB requested the judge for 15-day remand. The NAB prosecutor read out the charge sheet against Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The NAB alleged that Shahbaz misused his authority, causing losses of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. The NAB counsel said that the NAB requird more interrogation of the accused. However, the defence counsels opposed the request of the NAB and said that Shahbaz Sharif was being made victim of political vendetta. They rejected the charges against Shahbaz Sharif as baseless. Shahbaz Sharif also rejected the charges. He said that he saved billions of rupees in development projects. He said that he worked day and night to serve the people, which also affected his health. He said that he did not committed corruption of even a single penny. He said that the case was politically motivated. After the court’s decision, the Shahbaz Sharif was shifted to NAB headquarters in Lahore. A large number of the PML-N leaders and workers have reached the court before appearance of the former Punjab Chief Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif. Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz were allowed to enter the accountability court, while other leaders and workers of the PML-N were stopped outside the court. The security has also been tightened in Lahore city. The leader of the opposition in the National Assembly was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday in the Ashiana Iqbal housing scheme case. Contingents of police, including anti-riot force, have been deployed around the accountability court ahead of Shahbaz’s appearance and roads leading to it have also been blocked. The PML-N workers were raising slogans in support of the party president. They climbed on the armoured vehicle, in which Shahbaz Sharif was present. Talking to the media outside the accountability court building earlier, Aurangzeb had accused the government of “using NAB to take political revenge”. “They [government] had thought that PML-N would break. They thought that brothers (Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif) will be separated,” she said. “They thought, and they tried, that a forward block will be formed in the party.” Yesterday, former premier Nawaz termed Shahbaz’s arrest as “not just regrettable, but also ridiculous” and accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government of being responsible for “this worse kind of revenge”.